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Sunday, June 23, 2013

Beginnings - Redemption

Back in 2006, I began a huge project. The book was to be told in
three parts - the first part being set in the current time, the middle
to be set several decades later, and the third picking up where the
second left off. Of course, as you'll see from the beginning, it's a
huge project about a huge project. I never did finish this, but I still
feel the old excitement when I read through it again. I could still
finish this, but I'm afraid - as I was when I dropped this - that it's
totally unsellable. Maybe someday it'll be finished and
self-published. :shrug: Who knows what the future will bring?

Which was actually the point of this work...

Redemption

Book 1

Chapter 1

“But surely you
realize a venture of this magnitude will certainly break you…”

“That is of little
consequence,” Peter Stiles replied tersely.He looked again at the schematics laid out before him.This was to be his greatest triumph.After spending his life growing rich off the
inventions he created, he was finally going to give something back.None of his hundreds of patents would ever
come close to this.

And now his lawyer
was trying to talk him out of it.

“But Peter,” the man
continued, “You’ve worked too hard to get where you are, just to throw it all
away on some hare-brained scheme…”

Peter glowered
across the desk.“Not another word,
George,” he said with more venom than he had intended.One glance at George’s face and he
immediately regretted his outburst.More
than just his lawyer, George Bannister had been his friend for nearly thirty
years.They’d been through thick and
thin together since college—when George was spending all his time studying for
the bar and Peter all his time working toward his double E.They’d been best man at each other’s
weddings.George had taken him in after
his first wife had thrown him out on his ear, and he was too drunk to find
another place to stay.He had taken
George in when his only wife had died suddenly and George had been unable to
survive a return to a house full of memories.After all they’d been through, Peter knew that he should be big enough
to make allowances for George’s incredulity, even if it was incomprehensible
that George would doubt him now.

“I’m sorry,” Peter
whispered.“But you don’t understand how
important this project is.”

His friend
nodded.“Apology accepted,” he said
graciously.For several minutes the two
sat in silence, each of them looking at the pile of blueprints and engineering
drawings that would be Peter’s opus.Finally it was George who broke the uncomfortable barrier.“It looks like it will be a beaut.”

That was all it
took for Peter to relax back into his genial self.A wide smile broke across his face.“She sure will.”

“Peter?” George
began tentatively.“You’re right that I
don’t understand why you’re driven to do this, but you’re wrong if you think
that I don’t understand the thinking that started it.You’re growing older… We both are… And you’re
feeling like you need something to show for your life.But christ, Peter, all you have to do is look
back over your life to see how much of an impact you’re already made.”

“This isn’t a
midlife crisis, George.If you want to
point to anything as a mid-life crisis, look at my marriage to Tiphani.”

George smiled as
thought about that utter disaster, but Peter wasn’t smiling.“Then leave an endowment to our alma
mater.They’ll name another building
after you.”

“This isn’t about
having my name plastered on some building.”Peter sighed.“George, it’s about
finally waking up to what a mess this world is and then coming to the
realization that with all my money, I can’t fix it…”

“You can certainly
make a dent, Peter, if that’s really what you want.”

“It isn’t enough.”

“Sure it is.You could spend the next thirty years giving
away a million at a time to whatever organization needed it, whenever they
asked, and still be able to die a wealthy man.There no need for you do to this and die destitute.”

Peter
laughed.“You’re making a couple of
wrong assumptions there, my friend, not the least of which is thinking that if
I spent it all now, I wouldn’t be able to make it again.”

“Of course you
could, but that’s not the point.”

“And then there’s
the other assumption,” Peter continued, ignoring his friend’s interruption.

“Which is?”

“That I will live
long enough to see my own destitution.”

“Bull,” George
declared.“You’ve got plenty of time
left.Hell, you’re the baby of the two
of us, and I’m planning on you to give the eulogy at my funeral.”His eyes were twinkling at what he thought
was a ridiculous suggestion on the part of his friend.“You’ll live long enough to see us all in the
ground.”

Peter shook his
head and suddenly George turned a strange shade of gray.He inclined his head as a sort of silent
question and Peter nodded sadly.

“Damn,” was
George’s only comment.
...

I meant to post the entirety of this chapter, but apparently there's something hinky with the formatting that isn't letting me paste it into Blogger without Blogger having a hissy fit. Which is really too bad, because the rest of this chapter really sets up the whole first third of the book.

And I apologize for the crappy formatting on the above. Between Word being a prima donna and my internet being a PITA, it was either leave it like this or not post anything at all.

Thanks, Silver! Actually, if I'd been able to post the rest, his plan is to build a super-sized submarine and man it with a select group of people who'll live undersea until the Earth is safe to live on again.

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Who I Am

Writer of suspense, speculative fiction (aka dystopian, futuristic, post-apocalyptic... pick one, they all work), and urban fantasy for the adult market. Minor conspiracy theorist and major hermit, armchair Jeopardy! champion and fount of useless knowledge, pessimistic optimist and hopeful romantic, B.E. Sanderson spends her time reading, writing, gardening, and generally enjoying life with her husband and their cat.